2026 Rising Poet Prize: Winners & Finalists
We are delighted to share the winners, finalists, and longlist for the 2026 Rising Poet Prize! Please join us in congratulating these wonderful poets. We’re deeply grateful to all who shared innovative and exciting poems with us—we are so lucky to have been immersed in the worlds of your work! The winning poem and runner-ups were selected by guest judge Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo and are published on the Palette website.
Winners of the 2026 Rising Poet Prize
1st place — Austin Bate-Agborsangaya for “California Girls”
Austin Bate-Agborsangaya is a Cameroonian-Taiwanese poet born in Los Angeles, California. A Pushcart Prize and Best New Poets nominee, his work has been recognized by The New York Times, Princeton University, and The Plentitudes Prizes. Bate is a sophomore at the Taipei American School and an alumnus of The Adroit Journal Summer Mentorship and the Iowa Young Writers’ Studio.
2nd place — Kathleen Loe for “Estuarial”
Kathleen Loe is a poet, art writer and visual artist, living in Hudson, NY. She has taught poetry with The Writing Studio and numerous fine arts workshops around the country, often combining strategies from poems as starting points for painting. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in New Ohio Review, Calyx, Cagibi Lit, Sugar House Review, Rise Up Review, Waxwing, and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Kathleen is currently completing a collection of poems dealing with moving vs. rootedness and growing up in the Deep South.
3rd place — Norman Tran for “A Number Is a Place”
Norman Tran (he/they) is a queer, neurodivergent Chinese American poet and educator from Los Angeles. Their work is forthcoming in The Kenyon Review, and appears in Honey Literary, Tell Me About the Dream (Papaya Press, 2025), The Seventh Wave, and elsewhere. They are a 2026 PEN America Emerging Voices Fellow whose writing has been supported by FAWC, Kundiman, Lambda Literary, and Periplus Collective. They are working towards their debut collection, cross-examining Gaysian polyamorous relationships and the patterns that make us love recklessly, silently, exponentially.
Finalists
Michael Carter
Satya Dash
Em DeVincentis
Courtney DuChene
Nnamdi Ndiolo
Chiwenite Onyekwelu
Sam Robison
Longlist
Nimalah Baaith-Ducharme
Dagmawe Berhanu
Xochi Quetzali Cartland
Imani Cezanne
Russell Coldicutt
Dana Ysabel Dela Cruz
David Ehmcke
Deahna Fumarol
Yuwei Hua
Haley Laningham
Max Lyrata
Richardine Mamam Nbiba
Anjali Natarajan
Neha Rayamajhi
Felix Salmoran
Lucy Siegel
Laura Stanley
Sunehra Subah
Nora Rose Tomas
Tijana Wekker
Caden Wiles